1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in a key telephone apparatus comprising an ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) function.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known, in recent years, digital key telephone apparatuses with an ACD function have become popular. In the ACD function, a plurality of extension terminals constitute a single ACD group, and incoming calls from a network corresponding to the ACD group are equally distributed to the plurality of extension terminals in the ACD group. With this ACD function, a digital key telephone apparatus can prevent incoming calls from being concentrated on a specific extension terminal, and can efficiently process incoming calls.
In this case, one representative number is normally assigned to a single ACD group. For this reason, the calling party dials this representative number to call a target extension terminal in the ACD group.
In such a digital key telephone apparatus with the ACD function, a supervisor is set in advance in the ACD group, and monitors, e.g., the processing conditions of incoming calls to the extension terminals in the ACD group. Based on the monitor result, the supervisor assists an incoming call processing job to be executed by, e.g., an agent of the ACD group, and manages the operating condition of the digital key telephone apparatus.
However, conventional monitor means, which is used by the supervisor to monitor the ACD group, is realized by connecting an information management apparatus comprising, e.g., a personal computer to the main unit of the digital key telephone apparatus via a special-purpose connection unit. The supervisor acquires and totalizes information required for monitoring from the main unit of the digital key telephone apparatus by operating the information management apparatus, and manages the ACD function on the basis of the totalized result.
For this reason, in the conventional digital key telephone apparatus with the monitor means of the ACD function, since the information management apparatus and its special-purpose connection unit must be separately equipped, the system size and cost increase. In addition, a special-purpose program, control data, and the like must be input to the information management apparatus prior to its use, and a complicated operation procedure is required to start its operation. For this reason, since the supervisor is required of skills and expert knowledge, the load on the supervisor becomes heavy.